No, World War 3 is indeed coming. The US Dollar will likely collapse at the end.

[knight22]

Atlas, you got it all right. This is the same reason why the US installed the central bank of Iraq in 2004.

[Charlie Prime]

Is that what that's called when you throw money out of a helicopter?  "Extracting sustenance" ?

That's my point.  Your brain is stuck in the 20th century.  I empathize.  I have a minor in Assets = Liabilities + Capital.  It was difficult to overcome.

In 1984 I was busy building a bug-out shelter because my economics classes at university had me convinced that the staggering U.S. national debt of an incredible 1 Trillion Dollars was unsustainable for even two more years. 

Japan would repossess the U.S.  Savings & Loan failures would collapse the economy.  General Motors would cease to exist.  The Soviets would roll across Europe.  Farmer suicides of the time would leave us starving. 

This year I finally realized that we now live under a new, super-sophisticated version of global corporate fascism wherein CURRENCIES DO NOT MATTER.  It is irrelevant whether your fiat is ye olde Dollars, pink Renminbis, or spiffy new Weyland Corp. GloboCredits.  They are playthings of London, New York, and Beijing.  The world changed under your feet.  You haven't realized it yet.

[scribe]

year I finally realized that we now live under a new, super-sophisticated version of global corporate fascism wherein CURRENCIES DO NOT MATTER.  It is irrelevant whether your fiat is ye olde Dollars, pink Renminbis, or spiffy new Weyland Corp. GloboCredits.  They are playthings of London, New York, and Beijing.  The world changed under your feet.  You haven't realized it yet.

Can I trade BTC for GloboCredits?

Seriously though. I've vaguely been following the progress of the Iranian Oil Bourse, which apparently allowed other currencies for oil-trading since March. Not heard much recently, but suspect that's me not them.

The really important thing to remember is just that Debt = Power. Just like any bank holding credit over a customer, the notion ( both emotional and legal) of "being owed something" is directly tied to being able to control what the debtor owes (and therefore can and can't do) in the future. Having something worth lending is just the carrot.

Possibly worth a read or not:

http://www.serendipity.li/hr/imf_and_dollar_system.htm

[Charlie Prime]

The really important thing to remember is just that Debt = Power.

Debt is not power.  The ability to inflict violence is power.

" Political power grows out of the barrel of a gun."  -- Quotations from Chairman Mao Zedong (The Little Red Book)(1964)

The real power a bank has over a borrower is the violence a Sheriff's Deputy can use to enforce court orders.  Same with the U.S. of A.  China will never call in the U.S. debt because the U.S. can tell them their gold is located inside Fort Knox.  Come get it.